LOS ANGELES
VOL. XXIII, NO. 20
JUNE 20 - 26, 2015
THE LEADING SOURCE OF NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR FILIPINO-AMERICANS
PHL to argue China sea case at Hague next month Manila, Philippines (AFP) Monday 6/15/2015 – The Philippines will argue its case against China’s claim over most of the disputed South China Sea at The Hague next month, the foreign department said Monday. The Netherlands-based UN court is scheduled to conduct a hearing from July 7 on a case lodged by the Philippines in 2013 which China has spurned, foreign department spokesman Charles Jose said. “Right now we are preparing for the oral arguments in The Hague on July 7 to 13. Our team from Manila and from the United States will be flying there,” Jose told reporters in the Philippine capital.
Philippine officials and diplomats, assisted by US lawyers, will represent the country in the proceedings, Jose said. China claims almost all of the South China Sea, even areas close to the coasts of its neighbors. Its claim is disputed by the Philippines as well as Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan. The waters are a crucial sea lane and rich fishing ground also believed to hold large mineral resources. The Philippines asked the UN tribunal in January 2013 to declare China’s claim invalid and against international law. Manila says some of the areas claimed See CASE AT HAGUE, page 8
P440-M BBL bribery story credible, solid – reporter tells House MANILA, June 16 (Mabuhay) – The reporter who broke the story on the alleged P440-million bribe for lawmakers to pass the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) stood by her articles when she appeared before the House of Representatives on Tuesday. During the House of Representatives investigation on the alleged bribe from Chinese crime lord Wang Bo on Tuesday, Christine Herrera said her series of stories were verified using credible sources before these were published.
“I stand by what I have written in my articles. They are based on credible sources and solid evidence. I (exerted) efforts to verify and corroborate the story before submitting for publication,” said Herrera, whose articles came out of the Standard. The reporter then quoted from US President Barack Obama about the freedom of the press. “‘A society who represses journalists ultimately represses the people.’ I brought out the basic principle which is that a free See BRIBERY, page 8
117th Phil. Independence Day celebration guest of honor, Senator Chiz Escudero Hilton Los Angeles Universal City with former Philippine Journal Inc – publisher of People’s Journal, People’s Tonight and the defunct Times Journal – employee Jingo Giron. (Photo posted by Jingo Giron on his Facebook page)
Escudero rekindles call for return of Balangiga bells By Abner Galino
SC stops construction of ‘national photobomber’ building near Luneta Manila, Philippines | AFP | Tuesday 6/16/2015 – A high-rise condominium project that has outraged Philippine conservationists for allegedly ruining views of a national monument was stopped by the Supreme Court Tuesday, officials said. The 49-storey Torre de Manila development looms on the skyline behind the tomb and monument of national hero Jose Rizal, less than a kilometer (0.62 miles) away. Still under construction and currently 30 storeys tall, it has been derided on social media as the “national photobomber,” in a nod to the monument’s status as one of the country’s most photographed vistas. “Rizal is one of the foremost historical figures in the country. He must own the landscape,” said Trixie Angeles, head of the government’s National Commission on Culture and the Arts. “If we consider him important, he must dominate the landscape. He is the symbol of the Filipino,” she told AFP. The court injunction takes effect immediately until the case is resolved, court clerk Theodore Te told reporters. The developer and the project opponents were also ordered to present their arguments at a court hearing on June 30. See PHOTOBOMBER, page 8
Senator Francis Escudero has rekindled a dormant call for the return of the three historic church bells of the town of Balangiga, Samar which were taken as war booty by the United States Army during its suppression of Filipino revolutionaries in the early 1900. As guest speaker at the 117th Philippine Independence Day celebration at Universal Hilton in Universal City, California, the senator not only renewed the Philippine claim to the historic church bells but also brought back the tragic memory associated with them by passionately retelling the details of that episode in Philippine history. Escudero said that it is time for the United States government to return the bells as they don’t qualify as war booty and that their return would symbolically magSee ESCUDERO, page 8
Photo of the Rizal Monument with Torre de Manila (already 19 floors high) rising behind it, taken on August 20, 2014. Photo from the Office of Sen. Pia Cayetano